If you’re at all interested in visiting Yellowstone this year and have been searching the internet, you may have seen what amounts to a fake US Geogolical Survey website calling for the evacuation of Yellowstone and the surrounding areas.

We have seen these fake reports and wanted to let you know that the real USGS website has not changed their alert levels based on the recent earthquake activity in the park over the past couple of weeks. To read for yourself, check out the USGS Yellowstone Volcano Observatory website.

To summarize, the USGS is saying through January 5th, ‘seismic activity has markedly decreased’. Through this past Monday, they had identified over 500 earthquakes that had occurred between December 26 and January 1, 2009. Approximately 80% of those earthquakes were below a magnitude of 2.0. While they acknowledge that the activity is above normal, ‘it is not unprecedented during the last 40 years of monitoring’. At this time, they also are not seeing any anomalous changes in what they call ‘surface discharges’ (hot springs, gas output, etc.). No current winter activity in the park has been affected.

We’ll do our best to keep you up to speed with any new information. If you have any questions, let us know.